A tale of two tomatoes

Ruth shows how to resurrect leggy seedlings

- Ruth Hayes

I HAVE been pleased with the results of sowing my 'Gardeners Delight' tomato seeds, part of our free seed range for 2022. They all germinated healthily and most have been living on a windowsill indoors with a few extras relegated to our unheated greenhouse.

The greenhouse tomatoes benefited from the 'tough love' of colder nights and grew slowly but robustly. They are now healthy-looking sturdy plants.

Unfortunately I left the indoor toms on the windowsill for a few days too long and they have grown tall and pale, with weaker stems and leaves. At the moment, I wouldn't bet on a good crop.

However, all is not lost. The great thing about leggy tomato seedlings is they will sprout new roots up their stems when planted deeply, which will help improve their overall health.

Another option is to strip off half the leaves and bury the entire stem in a windowbox-style container. The tip will start to grow up through the soil and, again, roots will develop along the stem.